ISLAMABAD, May 27 – The Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) party on Sunday nominated Nawaz Sharif (photo) for the office of Prime Minister two weeks after it won majority parliamentary seats in general elections.
According to the PML-N, the final approval of Sharif’s nomination will be made during a party meeting before the start of the National Assembly session, Xinhua news agency reported. Sharif has served Pakistan twice and would be the first Pakistani to lead the country for the third time.
PML-N has bagged 126 general seats out of 268 elected seats, and with the joining of independents, PML-N’s strength has reached 144 in the 342-member National Assembly or Lower House of parliament.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party led by former cricket captain Imran Khan has announced to field a senior leader, Javed Hashmi, to challenge Sharif.
PTI won dozens of seats and was placed third as the outgoing ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was second in terms of parliamentary seats after the PML-N.
The PPP has not decided to field a candidate for the prime minister post. Some PPP leaders had earlier hinted they were likely to support Nawaz Sharif but no final decision has been made.
No date has been fixed for the first session of the National Assembly which will elect the Prime Minister. The Interim Information Minister, Arif Nizami, said the assembly session would be summoned by June 2.
-BERNAMA
